We are approaching the oracy tipping point – my slides from Northern Rocks

Yesterday I finally made it to the fabulous Northern Rocks conference. It’s a beast of a drive from Brighton to Leeds but it was worth every minute. On the hottest day of the year, it also warmed the parts the sun can’t reach – a day full of optimism and hope for a profession that sometimes feels like it’s on its knees following the endless, often incoherent interference from the top. It’s a shame Amanda Spielman couldn’t make it – I think she would have enjoyed it.

Anyway, here are the slides from my talk ‘Why oracy is more important than literacy and numeracy put together’. It was essentially an expanded version of my recent blog for Oracy Cambridge, which also covered some of the evidence for promoting speaking and listening in schools, which I think is pretty overwhelming.

The message that most seemed to resonate with people is that oracy is not pedagogy; it’s the curriculum. Every school should be putting oracy front and centre, alongside literacy and numeracy. Let’s make it happen – we’re almost at the tipping point (see slide 22)!

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